Everso Biggyballies wrote: ↑2 years ago
<snip> ........just one seat left to be confirmed now..... that of the #7 Heimgartner vacated seat at what will be Grove Racing for next year with the total Grove takeover of what was/is Kelly Grove Racing. That seat is pencilled in to be for Kiwi hotshot Matthew Payne but is subject to him being given a Supercars Super licence dispensation, which seems likely to happen (my opinion). Yes he made a mess of the red flagged final race in the washed out result, but he was one of many caught out by the conditions after the final restart. It was his first time ever in the car, let alone being in the car in the soaking wet. His performances up to then were quite impressive other than messing up his first ever Super 2 start. To start your first race in a category on the front row as an 18 year old, having already only hours before set the fastest time in the Bathurst 2nd driver practice when he filled in for Luke Youlden in the #26 Penrite Mustang. The guy has a future. As long as he does not make a mess of his Super 2 appearance at Bathurst I see no issues.
So yeah, a busy silly season is now all but done.
But maybe not....
It seems the what will be Grove Racing for next year have yet to even apply for a dispensation for Matt Payne's necessary Superlicence. I think they may be some doubts in their mind and uncertainty as to whether he is ready for the main game. That is my belief reading between the lines of a statement issued today by Steven Grove.
Grove reviewing Payne’s 2022 Supercars plans
Grove Racing is set to review its plans for Matt Payne this week as it decides whether or not to push for his inclusion in next year’s Supercars Championship.
He was always their plan, but despite a brilliant first day out at Eastern Creek last month where he topped the additional drivers SC practice and subsequently qualified on the front row for Super 2, he has not shown huge potential and has had several incidents that I believe might be causing some second thoughts..... , he stalled on the front row in the following day’s Super2 race, which was attributed to “a misstep on the starting procedure” in the team’s press release, and tangled with a Super3 competitor as he tried to drive back up through the field.
In a wet Race 2 of the weekend, Payne and the following Angelo Mouzouris caused a red flag when they careered off Brabham Straight at a restart and smashed into the tyre barriers.
Then in Super 2 at Bathurst, Payne copped a penalty for crashing into Tyler Everingham on the out lap at the start of a qualifying session, and received a drive-through for a nudge which helped Jaylyn Robotham hit the barriers at Griffins Bend in Race 1Asked if there is a plan B should Payne not receive dispensation, Stephen Grove said at the Bathurst 1000, “We haven’t really looked at that in the sense that we just wanted to sit and see where Matt was, Monday, Tuesday [this] week.
“It’s been a pretty busy week for us as a team because we finish the year, then on the 20th of December we formally take 100 percent ownership of the team [Kelly Grove Racing], so there’s a lot to do between now and the 20th and work out our direction for next year.
“But, [this] week we’ll sit down, we’ll review how Matty went, we’ll review the incidents, we’ll get some advice, [and] we’ll talk to Craig Baird, who’s got an enormous amount of experience. (He is alsoI think the Driving Standards man at V8SC)
“He helps us with our junior programme, so we’ll sit with him and we’ll get a view from him and we’ll make a decision on which direction we head.”
“We’ve had some issues that have been caused by him, and we’ve had some issues where he hasn’t caused them, and that’s the general concept of racing; they’re racing pretty hard,” said Grove of Payne’s spate of incidents.
“We’re just going to go through the review process at the end of this weekend [Bathurst] and just assess whether Super2’s an option or whether Carrera Cup’s an option or whether the main game’s an option.”
“Everybody here (at Bathurst) who’s racing this weekend that would be a potential [replacement] would be a co-driver now, I would think, so they need to focus on their races and their teams, and from Monday onwards, we’ll start talking to people.”
I think that they have been to Bathurst, not seen the sort of progress from Payne they were hoping for and at the same time had their eyes opened by the quality of some of the main game co-drivers (ie Holdsworth!) who maybe they see as a better option and could no doubt be keen (ie inexpensive), whilst they run Payne in a full year of Super 2 to build his experience.
Lets not forget Payne only has one season of Covid interrupted running in feeder categories. The main game is a big step up from anything he has ever experienced.
I may well be wrong ..... they might indeed next week send off the dispensation papers to Motorsport Aus. But the fact they have now said they are going to talk to others (co-drivers at Bathurst makes me think he is no longer as firm a favourite as he was.
